Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils

Decrees of the
Ecumenical Councils
Volume One
Nicaea I to Lateran V
EDlTE D BY
Norman P Tanner S.].
OR I G I NAL TEX T ESTABLI SHED RY
G. Alberigo, j A. Dosseui, p.-P j oannou,
C. Leonard i, and P Prodi ,
in consultation with H. j edin
Sheed & Ward
and
Georgetown University Press
1990

Ephesus
431

I N TROD UC TI ON
NestOrius, who had been condemned in a council at Rome on 11 August 430,
as ked the em peror Theodosius II to summon this council. The emperor therefore
decided ro summon it together with his co-emperor Va lcntin ian II I and
with the ag reement of Pope Cel estine I. Theodosius's letter of 19 November 430
requested all those who had been summoned to be present at Ephes us on 7 June
43 1, the feast of Pentecost.
On 22 June, however, before the arriva l either of the Roman legates or the
eastern bishops led by John of Antioch, Cyril of Alexandria began the council.
N cstorius was summoned three times but did nOt come. His teaching was
examined and jud gment passed upon it, wh ich 197 bishops subscribed at o nce
and others later acce pted 1.
Shortly afterwards John of Antioch and the easterners arrived: they refused
communion with Cyril and set up another council. The Roman legates (the
bishops Arcadius and Projectus and the priest Philip), on arriving, joined Cyril
and confirmed the senrence against Nestorius. Then the council in its fi fth
sessio n o n 17 July excommunicated John and his party2.
The documents of the Cyrilline counciP, the only one which is ecumenical,
are incl uded below and are as fo llows. 1) The cenrral dogmatic act of the council 4
is its judgment about whether the second Ieuer of Cyril to Nestori us, or
Nestorius's second letter to Cyril, was in conformity with the Nicene creed,
whic h was recited at the opening of the council 's proceedings . Cyril's letter was
declared by the fa thers (Q be in agreement with N icaea, Ncstorius's was condemned.
Both are here printed 5 • Mention is made of Cyril's letter in the defin ition
of Chalcedon 6 . 2) T he 12 anathemas and the preced ing explanatory letter, which
had been froduced by Cyril and the synod of Alexandria in 430 and sent to
N estorius , were read at Ephesus and included in the proeeedings8 . 3) T he
1 Sec E. Gerla nd - V. Laurent. Corpus notitiarum episcoptltllltni ecclesitlc orientalis graectlc,
fase. II , Part I[ (Council of Ephesus), KaJi-Koey 1936,36 and 5 1.
2 ACO I I 3, 24-26.
J On the teaching of the council: I O rtiz de Urbina, Ii dogmtl di E[em, Revue des etudes
byzantines 11 (1953) 233-240; H. M. Diepen Douze ditlloglles de christ%gie anciemre, Rome
1960. 49-94: and especiall y A. Grillmeier, Christ in Christian Tradition, London 21975,
443- 501.
4 J. Lebon, AI/tour de /a de/initiorl de [oi au corlcile d'Ephese (431 ), Ephemerides theologicae
Lo\'anienses 8 (193 1) 393-412.
5 See below pp. 40-50. For Cyril's lener: ACO I I 1,25-28 (G reek text); ACO 1 V 337- 340
(Latin version from the Quesnel collect ion). For NeslOrius's leHer: ACO 1 1 1, 29-32 (Greek
text); ACO I III 23- 26 (Lati n version of Rust icus).
6 See below p. 85.
7 ACO I I 1,33-42 (Greek text); ACO I V 236-244 (Latin version of Dionysius Exiguus).
8 See below pp. 50-61. ACO I 1 2,36.26.